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54 lines
2.7 KiB
Plaintext
54 lines
2.7 KiB
Plaintext
A ROSS PEROT FOR THE MODEM-MINDED
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How many people know that the recently passed federal budget
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package includes a special tax on modems?
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Too many, according to James Leonard. The tax doesn't exist, of
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course, but it's an example of the kind of misinformation that gets
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spread over the nation's computerized bulletin boards.
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With a growing subscriber base of around 3 million personal
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computer users, various types of online services "can spread these
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rumors like firestorms across the electronic global community,"
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says Leonard, a spread sheet specialist who lives in Seattle.
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To douse those flames - and to help ensure that modem users
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aren't targeted by a tax - he has set out to form a group called
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the International Association of Modem Users. "THIS NOT A HOAX!"
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shouts his invitation, which he dispatched on six bulletin board
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systems two weeks ago.
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As Leonard notes, bulletin board users are nothing: if not
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responsive. When the owners of Cambridge-based Channel 1 opened
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up a forum for discussion of their dispute with the state
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over telecommunications taxes - with the hyperbolic
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claim that the Department of Revenue is "attempting to
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tax the flow of information" indignant users couldn't
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log on fast enough.
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Among other things, they used the opportunity to de-
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clare their devotion to Libertarian politics, to warn gov-
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ernment "to keep its cotton-pickin' hands off the infor-
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mation superhighway" and to diagnose the Department
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of Revenue's behavior as "immoral, indecent and evil."
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One suggested that the state's behavior befits "the old Soviet
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Union, before it collapsed."
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Leonard, who apparently prides himself on being
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sleepless, in Seattle hangs out online every night from
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5:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. During that time, he says he's picked
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Up all manner of inaccurate reports about state efforts to
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tax various aspects of modem usage. But he believes that
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the fundamental fear is based in a simple truth: "It's be-
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ing driven by cities and states, who are all looking for new
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revenue."
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For now, Leonard is handing out free memberships
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to anyone who wants to join his group 10 days after his
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appeal went out, he had received 175 responses, from as
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far away as Thailand - and he expects to spend time try-
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ing to verify rumors members hear about relevant legislation. As
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the grass-roots group gets organized, though, he will begin
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charging dues. He already compares his fledgling movement to United
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We Stand, Ross Perot's organization. "I think I am like him," he
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says,"but I don't have a drawl."
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Nevertheless, he does believe he's the first to tap into
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a potentially powerful constituency. "Modem use crosses
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all classes of people," Leonard says, "and they all strong-
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ly believe it's their right to communicate freely."
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JOSH HYATT
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